Beocord 506

Before there was magnetic tape, there were magnetic wire recordings using a 0.1 mm steel wire instead of plastic tape with a magnetic coating. However, the basic principle is the same. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks getting a magnetic wire recording up and running again – at least the playback part… This mechanism came out of a Beocord 506 UK. The 506 means that it was made by Bang & Olufsen in 1951. The U meant that it had a Universal power supply (220 AC or 220 V DC, since the mains power was not yet standardised in Denmark in those days…) and the K stood for Kuffert or portable case. Originally, it looked like this: The Beocord 506UK incorporated a turntable with a fixed rotation speed of 78 RPM, with a mono output (of course…). The take-up spool of for the magnetic wire recorder doubled as the turntable platter, which makes it easy to ensure that it’s running at the correct speed (there’s an adjustment screw just on the other side of the white plastic plate on the top between…